Now what is it that Timothy had so fully known in Paul? Men will be disobedient to their parents. Fear and timidity will keep us from using the gifts God gives. One must try disorders and prove profession. Jesus said, "As it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be at the coming of the Son of man" ( Luke 17:26 ). For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, and led away with divers lusts, ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth ( 2 Timothy 3:5-7 ). In the end not a book was burned; the brigand left the colporteur and went off into the darkness with the books. Therefore it is incumbent for the Christian to look to this gravely, never to be dragged by the fear of breaking unity into accrediting what dishonours the Lord. It imagines "the faith" as something to be guarded (see 2 Timothy 1:14), lest it become corrupted or . This is a very striking word. He brings out the infinite value of the Scriptures, that is of what was written, the one transcendent resource for perilous times when we have not the presence and personal help of apostles. (i) He says that the Scriptures give the wisdom which will bring salvation. How is a man to walk in such a state of things as this? It is the word alazon ( G213) and was derived from the ale, which means a wandering about. Men will be treacherous. The word is huperephanos ( G5244) . The ancient world set duty to parents very high. No matter what the reasons or excuses for joining with them, "turn away.". And the reason why he makes it so urgent not to be turned aside was, that the time would come when men would not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts they should heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; and they should turn away their ears from the truth, and should be. The Jews divided all time into this present age and the age to come. It may well be a proof of Timothy's courage and consecration that he had seen very clearly what could happen to an apostle and had yet not hesitated to cast in his lot with Paul. Then in 2 Timothy 3:1-17 he proceeds to show us not merely a picture of the condition that Christianity will fall into, but, besides, a state of things that would be produced by this confusion. And how profitable is the word of God to us today! They're profitable for doctrine. The Gnostic insinuators would teach these doctrines to impressionable women. What a blessing. And, let every one that nameth the name" not of "Christ," but "of the Lord depart from iniquity." When our Lord was pleased to take upon himself the form of a servant, and to go about preaching the kingdom of God; he took all opportunities in public, and more especially in private, to caution his disciples against . Thank You that Your grace is sufficient for any attack that the evil enemy of my soul can throw at me, and that nothing can ever separate me from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus. He flung the New Testament on it. For that very reason it is unanswerable that, whatever a man might argue about the rest of the Bible, it is impossible for the Church ever to do without the Gospels. Afterwards he also speaks of his own work and of that which he was suffering. "Men of corrupt minds. Those who deceive others do but deceive themselves; those who draw others into error run themselves into more and more mistakes, and they will find it so at last, to their cost. It is the normal Greek word for difficult, but it has certain usage's which explain its meaning here. He nourishes an all-consuming, all-pervading pride; and in his heart there is a little altar where he bows down before himself. It is said that, after hearing an evangelical sermon, Lord Melbourne once remarked: "Things have come to a pretty pass when religion is allowed to invade the sphere of private life." That is to say, they go through all the correct movements and maintain all the external forms of religion; but they know nothing of Christianity as a dynamic power which changes the lives of men. And there came that place where, hey, Moses performed a miracle of God and they backed away. Aspondos ( G786) can mean two things. He is the man whom God resists, for it is repeatedly said in scripture, that God receives the humble but resists the man who is proud, huperephanos ( G5244) ( James 4:6; 1 Peter 5:5; Proverbs 3:24). Right out of the gate, Second Timothy presents itself as a conservative letter, understanding "conservative" in the most literal sense of the word. These were the names given to the court magicians of Pharaoh who opposed Moses and Aaron, when Moses was leading the children of Israel out of their slavery in Egypt. She had been finding life, as she herself said, futile and meaningless. Is it knowledge, or is it life, that we are trying to transmit? Christian life is a life of purpose. At "that day" will be the display of whatever has been endured, as well as done, for the Lord's sake. He must study the Scriptures to make himself useful to God and to his fellow-men. The thing that amazes me is that he can attract people who will support him. 3. I believe God intended that you should enjoy life.There is nothing wrong with having pleasure. Only Luke is with me." "I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in thee by the putting on of my hands. There is teaching. And he was probably in the company of those that were standing around, sort of crying, as they saw Paul's limp body on the ground. Article Images Copyright 2023 Getty Images unless otherwise indicated. It is well to maintain the largest heart for everything that is really of Christ. There was a state of things coming when it would be impossible to have local charges chosen according to the full sanction which they had in apostolic days. Every man going his own way. 10 But thou hast fully known my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, charity, patience, 11 Persecutions, afflictions, which came unto me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra; what persecutions I endured: but out of them all the Lord delivered me. The deterioration, rapid deterioration so that a mother has to worry when she sends her little child to school because she doesn't know what some kinky character might do, exposing themselves to that beautiful little child or even worse. "Much the greatest rogue of all is the man who has gulled his city into the belief that he is fit to direct it.". 1. for reproof, for correction ( 2 Timothy 3:16 ), And how often the word of God has brought correction to my course of life. Of course it was infinitely higher, it is needless to say, in the Master; but the servant was as closely as possible following in His steps. The words that finally decided me were those in John 18:37: 'For this I was born, and for this I have come into the world, to bear witness to the truth. fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, highminded, [and then] lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God ( 2 Timothy 3:3-4 ); The pleasuremania of the United States. There was the road from the south which centred the trade of the Maeander valley in Ephesus. He lets Timothy know that while he laid this on others, he must look carefully to his own ways. Do you have a hard time with that? But after giving the characteristics and traits of the godly man, Jesus then in the final Beatitudes said, "Blessed are ye, when men shall persecute you, and revile you, and say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake" ( Matthew 5:11 ). In the terrible times men will be so set on self that even the closest ties will be nothing to them. Each one of these words in the Greek is an interesting word study. Thayer, Joseph H. Thayers Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament. When Job was talking to his friends and they were talking to him about the future, and Job said, Oh, I wish I were dead. Now I'm not about to say God was wrong. This he had known most extensively, but it was closed; no longer had he before him any prospect of having to fight the battles of the church of God. 2 Timothy 3:12, NASB: Indeed, all who want to live in a godly way in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. repentance from dead works and of faith toward God. "He kicked the world about," said one, "as if it had been a football." So don't expect the world to speak well of you or to applaud you for your living a godly life and taking a righteous stand. And yet, it is becoming in this hedonistic society commonplace, all too commonplace, tragically commonplace. Rather than a verse-by-verse approach, the authors have crafted chapters that explain and apply key passages in their assigned Bible books. It is not meant that the Scriptures are valuable for finding fault; what is meant is that they are valuable for convincing a man of the error of his ways and for pointing him on the right path. Even if we look at Him so, He was raised from the dead. Now it is interesting that as Paul is referring to the Scriptures here, he is, of course, referring to the Old Testament Scriptures. And so Paul, you know, how I've lived; my faith, my longsuffering, my love, my patience, and the persecutions and afflictions that came to me. The nature of its doctrine was no way likely to command success: (1) it condemns all other religions, some established for ages; (2) it enjoins precepts ungrateful to flesh and blood, the mortifying of the flesh, the love of enemies, and the bearing of the cross; (3) it enforces these seemingly unreasonable precepts by promises seemingly incredible; not good things such as afford complacency to our senses, but such as cannot be obtained till after this life, and presuppose what then seemed impossible, the resurrection; (4) it predicts to its followers what would seem sure to keep most of the world from embracing it, persecutions. "Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world, and is departed unto Thessalonica; Crescens to Galatia, Titus unto Dalmatia. Paul cites three instances when he had to suffer for Christ. Paul said to Timothy. 2. He said, "A wicked and an adulterous generation seeks after a sign; but no sign will be given it, except the sign of the prophet Jonah: For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the whale; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth" ( Matthew 12:38-40 ). Help me totake this verse seriously, that I will suffer persecution if I live godly in Jesus Christ. (3.) It is not simply now to follow these, as urged in the first epistle (1 Timothy 6:11); but he adds a most characteristic word in the second epistle. It is Paul's conviction that the real follower of Christ cannot escape persecution. The doctrine that he preached. The word is propetes ( G4312) , precipitate. It means to follow a person mentally, to attend diligently to his teaching and fully to understand the meaning of what he says. Shall we turn now in our Bibles to Second Timothy chapter three? 2 Timothy 3:12 Context. O that we may love our Bibles more, and keep closer to them than ever! To love men is to forgive them and care for them as God forgave and cares--and it is only he who can enable us to do that. In either case home and family life were destroyed. That persecution which will properly furnish any evidence that we are the friends of Christ, must be only that which is for righteousness sake Matthew 5:10, and must be brought upon us in an honest effort to obey the commands of God. Now they're right out where little kids can go in and pick them up and leaf through them. E. F. Brown has pointed out the danger of what he calls "intellectual curiosity without moral earnestness." Death and resurrection, then, are thus put before this servant of God; the more remarkably, because the point here is a practical and not a doctrinal question. There might be a mixture of timid shrinking from pain and shame. This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come ( 2 Timothy 3:1 ). There is faith, complete belief that God's commands are binding and that his promises are true. The Gnostics had their own fanciful books; the heretics all produced their own literature to support their claims. It may flourish for a time, but when it is exposed to the light of truth it is bound to shrivel and die. I watch very little, but with horror and dismay, the deterioration of a man who probably at one time had a legitimate ministry, but I've seen the gradual erosion of this person on television just right before my eyes. Now though it is infallible, inerrant and inspired, I did make a mistake in my message this morning on the speed of Arcturus; it's twelve thousand miles a second, I think I said twelve million. And many shall be stirred up in anger to injure many; And they shall rouse up armies in order to shed blood. 3:6-7 For from among these there come those who enter into houses, and take captive foolish women, laden with sins and driven by varied desires, ready to listen to any teacher but never able to come to a knowledge of the truth. One only meets Satan when traveling in an opposite direction! God help us. It is not merely what had been preached, but what is in a permanent shape for the good of the saints of God here below, which elicits the remarkable assertion of its peculiar worth. With his or her commitment to follow Christ faithfully the Christian sets the course of his or her life directly opposite to the course of the world system. So I listened to that voice, and heard the truth, and found my Saviour.". Why cannot a man be as simple now as in apostolic times? God had made Jesus to be Lord and Christ, preached Peter on that day of power, when as yet much lay hid, and the great instrument of the revelation of the mystery was still shrouded in the darkness of midnight. So God's word, scripture given for inspiration, by the inspiration of God and is profitable.Of course, this morning we pointed out that the inspiration of the Bible is proved by internal evidences, such as its total accuracy with known facts of science, when it happened to cover scientific subjects. 1. Still the man has become crude, blasphemous, ranting and raving, a disgrace to Jesus Christ who said, "By this sign shall men know that you are my disciples, that you love one another" ( John 13:34 ). The strange characteristic of ingratitude is that it is the most hurting of all sins because it is the blindest. I must do so, if I own Him only in the indispensable truth of His Lordship if I own Him simply as the One that has authority over my soul. In other words, the word of God is that which thoroughly prepares me for any work that God might have for me to do. Edited by David Platt, Daniel L. Akin, and Tony Merida, this new commentary series, projected to be 48 volumes, takes a Christ-centered approach to expositing each book of the Bible. I thank God, whom I serve from my forefathers," what singular language this from Paul! "The cloke," then says he, "that I left at Troas with Carpus, when thou comest, bring with thee, and the books," not only the clothing, but even that which he is to read, "especially the parchments;" what he was going to write on, probably. So the Greek word that is used here to describe these that are going around, leading captive the silly women, is the same Greek word that was used to describe quackery, and that's probably they're quacks, Paul is saying. He is sure that in the long run it is better to suffer with God and the right than to prosper with men and the wrong. A whole collection of stories gathered round their names. "Men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, truce-breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God." of THE QUALITIES OF GODLESSNESS ( 2 Timothy 3:2-5 continued). The word here is makrothumia ( G3115) ; and makrothumia, as the Greeks used it, usually meant patience with people. He is the man who is guilty of the "sin of the high heart." Seeking the Gospel in Malachi, the Last Book of the Old Testament. It is the ability not to lose patience when people are foolish, not to grow irritable when they seem unteachable. for instruction in righteousness ( 2 Timothy 3:16 ): And righteousness is just actually the act of being right or doing right or living right. Get out your pen and take out the red, put the blue one. No one can possibly mistake him. Perverse Men 2 Timothy 3:2-4 . The sister was persuaded to read a copy of St. John. 10 But thou hast fully known my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, charity, patience, 11 Persecutions, afflictions, which came unto me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra; what persecutions I endured: but out of them all the Lord delivered me. In 2Baruch we get an even more vivid picture of the moral chaos of these last times: And envy shall rise in those who had not thought ought of. All who will show their religion in their conversation, who will not only be godly, but live godly, let them expect persecution, especially when they are resolute in it. (187) And he says this, partly that believers may prepare themselves for submitting to this condition, and partly that good men may not view him with suspicion on account of the persecutions which he endures from wicked persons; as it frequently happens that the distresses to which men are subjected lead to unfavorable opinions concerning them; for he whom men regard with aversion is immediately declared by the common people to be hated by God. And I will tell you what scriptures are inspired and which ones aren't. Having a form of godliness ( 2 Timothy 3:5 ). 1 Paul, a an apostle of Christ Jesus b by the will of God according to c the promise of the life that is in Christ Jesus,. Look at our attitudes towards morality. Deliberately he lit it. THE DUTIES AND THE QUALITIES OF AN APOSTLE ( 2 Timothy 3:10-13 ). "The foundation of God standeth sure [or, the firm foundation of God standeth], having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. Now, it is doubtless as true as it ever was, that a man who will live as the Saviour did, will, like him, be subjected to some such injury or disadvantage. Therefore, isolation is never desirable, though it may be sometimes necessary. There is peril when men assess prosperity by material things. The world just exists, no real goal, no real meaning; you're just existing. Acts 13:50; Acts 14:5-6,Acts 14:19; Acts 16:1-2). It is used in Matthew 8:28 to describe the two Gergesene demoniacs who met Jesus among the tombs. He must take care of the manner in which he strives. (3.) They should remember that, in this respect, they are treated as the Master was, and are in the goodly company of the prophets, apostles, and martyrs; for they were all persecuted.
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